Jay Gibbons remains somewhat of a "Who knows?" type of player despite being 30 years old and having been a regular (or intended regular) with the Orioles for five seasons. He enters 2007 on his shakiest ground, as there is competition or worse/better at every position he can handle.
Gibby's last three seasons:
AB AVG OBP SLG HR RBI BB
2004 BAL 346 .246 .303 .379 10 47 29
2005 BAL 488 .277 .317 .516 26 79 28
2006 BAL 343 .277 .341 .458 13 46 32
Walks are included because in 2006, Gibbons had by far his highest walkrate ever, a pretty significant jump really.
You know, all things considered, Gibbons should not be guaranteed anything as far as playing time goes. They stupidly gave him a contract he hadn't earned, and really, he's only been fully healthy one season in his career, which was 2003. When he's in the lineup, he can contribute, and he still has the ability to hit 30-plus bombs over a full season. But (hopefully) he'll find it tough to get into the lineup this year over Markakis in right and the Huff/Millar combo at first base and DH. Jay Gibbons is a veteran that still needs to prove himself, which is an unfortunate truth, and it's even more problematic that we signed him to such a long-term deal without him ever being a consistent performer. The only way I've ever been able to explain it is that Gibbons looked good next to mostly bad players.
The line: AB, AVG, OBP, SLG, HR, RBI, BB